DAY 8 FINALS: Lilly King Aids In Two WR's On Final Night Of World Champs

2017 FINA World Championships

Well that's a wrap, folks. The 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest concluded Sunday night after eight long days of competition. This meet did not end quietly, however. Led by two world records from ​Lilly King ​in the 50m breaststroke and the United States women in the 4x100m medley relay, this finals session had enough fireworks to go around.

​Lilly King ​wanted this one. No, that is not a sports cliché -- she ​literally​ wanted this one. She has said so multiple times. King wanted this world record and she got it with a time of 29.40, taking down ​Ruta Meilutyte's​ 2013 mark of 29.48. King had a long finish as well and potentially could have been another tenth faster with better timing. ​Russia's ​Yulia Efimova ​was making moves inside 15-meters, but did not have enough room to track down King and would take the silver in 29.57 -- just off her best of 29.52 from 2013. ​Katie Meili​ of the United States picked up her second medal of the meet with a bronze in 29.99 -- her first time under the 30-second barrier and making her the 7th fastest performer of all time.

​Chase Kalisz​ continues to steadily improve and trend closer to the illustrious 4:03.84 world record set by ​Michael Phelps​ in the legendary 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Thanks to a mind-numbing 1:07.6 breaststroke split, Kalisz was only two tenths of a second off of Phelps' pace. Kalisz doesn't have the freestyle that Phelps had, but if he can make minor adjustments to his backstroke and freestyle we could see something special down the road. Kalisz' time of 4:05.90 is the 4th fastest performance of all time and makes him the 3rd fastest performer of all time behind Phelps and ​Ryan Lochte​ (4:05.18). Hungary's ​David Verraszto​ claimed the silver medal with a strong time of 4:08.38. Although he was faster last month at the Sette Colli meet in Rome (4:07.47), a silver medal in front of the home crowd was a great prize. Japan's ​Daiya Seto​ got in for the bronze medal with a 4:09.14 -- also off his 4:07 from Sette Colli.

One of the most prominent qualities all champions -- in any field -- possess is consistency. ​Sweden's ​Sarah Sjöström​ is the definition of consistency in the 50m freestyle. After flirting with the elusive world record all year, Sjöström finally broke the 2009 supersuit standard with a 23.67 in Saturday night's semifinal. She was unable to best her standard in the final Sunday night, but still dropped a 23.69 for the gold medal. ​Ranomi Kromowidjojo​ of the Netherlands threw down a monster 23.85 for the silver medal -- a lifetime best for the Dutch star and a time that ties another Sjöström swim for the 4th fastest performance of all time. USA star ​Simone Manuel​ also dipped below the 24-second barrier for the first time in 23.97 for the bronze medal. That time downs ​Dara Torres'​ 2008 American record of 24.07 and ties Manuel with Aussie great ​Libby Trickett ​to become the 7th fastest performer of all time.

The men's backstroke splash and dash was led by three veterans in ​Camille Lacourt ​of France, ​Junya Koga​ of Japan, and ​Matt Grevers​ of the United States. Lacourt (32) dropped a 24.35 for the gold medal -- giving him his third-consecutive world title in this event. He won in Barcelona 2013 with a 24.42, Kazan 2015 with a 24.23, and now Budapest 2017 with a 24.35. Just like Sjöström -- he proved consistency is key. Koga (30) is the 4th fastest performer of all time with a 24.24 from 2009. While he was off his lifetime best, he still had enough for a silver medal in 24.51. Matt Grevers (32) has been a steady performer in the men's sprint backstroke races for the last decade. His length was enough for him to get his hand on the wall for the bronze in 24.56.

Nobody was going to touch ​Katinka Hosszu​ -- world record holder and 2016 Olympic gold medalist -- in this race, especially not in front of her home crowd. Hosszu blazed the first 200-meters in 2:08.74 -- just off her WR pace and nearly three seconds ahead of the next swimmer. After that, there was no looking back. Hosszu continued to lead throughout, eventually getting her hand on the wall first in 4:29.33 for a new Championship record and the 4th fastest performance of all time. Spain's ​Mireia Belmonte​ -- 2016 Olympic bronze medalist -- had a great freestyle leg to overtake Canada's ​Sydney Pickrem​ and Japan's ​Yui Ohashi​ for the silver medal in 4:32.17. This was a major redemption race for Pickrem after a disappointing 200m IM earlier in the meet where she got out of the pool for taking in water on the fly to back turn. She took the bronze in 4:32.88.

Italy's ​Gregorio Paltrinieri ​came into the 2017 World Championships as the undisputed favorite in the mile. The 2016 Olympic champion was in a position to take down ​Sun Yang's​ 2012 world record time of 14:31.12. This race quickly became a two-man race between Paltrinieri and the Ukraine's ​Mykhailo Romanchuk​, with Paltrinieri holding the slight lead throughout. Pushing each other to the max, the two men both flipped in 7:45 at the 800m mark -- times that would have placed top five in the individual event. As the race progressed, Paltrinieri was floating around world record pace, and with 100-meters to go was just two tenths off. He ended up finishing almost five seconds off the record in 14:35.85. Did he die? Nope. When Sun set that world record he came home in an astonishing 53.4. Romanchuk touched for silver in 14:37.14 to become the fourth fastest performer of all time behind Sun, Paltrinieri, and Aussie legend ​Grant Hackett​. Speaking of Aussies, ​Mack Horton​ rounded out the podium for the bronze medal in 14:47.70.

With a lineup featuring medalists in each of their respective 100's this week, the United States was in a strong position to give this world record a go. Thanks to splits from ​Kathleen Baker ​(58.54), ​Lilly King ​(1:04.48), ​Kelsi Worrell​ (56.30), and ​Simone Manuel ​(52.23) Team USA closed out the meet with gold in a world record-setting time of 3:51.55. Going into the freestyle leg they were actually about a half of a second off pace, but Manuel isn't the Olympic champion, World champion, and American record holder in the 100m freestyle for nothing. Behind a blazing 1:04.03 breaststroke leg from ​Yulia Efimova​ -- the fastest in the field -- Russia got in for the silver medal in a time of 3:53.38. Australia rounded out the podium for bronze in 3:54.29.​

Just like the women's relay, the United States men's squad featured either the gold or silver medalist in each of the respective 100's. Right off the bat, it's pretty tough for any country to compete with that -- even if you are Great Britain and have ​Adam Peaty ​split a 56.91 100m breaststroke. Led by ​Caeleb Dressel's​ 49.76 butterfly split, Team USA got their hand on the wall for gold in the final race of the meet. Their time of 3:27.91 challenged the 2009 supersuit world record of 3:27.28 and was actually faster than what they won the Olympics with last summer (3:53.13). As mentioned earlier, Peaty's 56.9 split propelled Great Britain up with the pack and was followed by a 50.8 from ​James Guy​ and 47.0 from ​Duncan Scott​ for the silver medal and final time of 3:28.95. If they can develop a backstroker over the next three years they are going to be seriously dangerous in 2020. Russia rounded out the podium for bronze in 3:29.76 courtesy of ​Vlad Morozov's ​46.69 anchor leg.​​---​

Michael Phelps’ eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 is the most iconic performance in Olympic history, arguably one that put the sport of swimming on the map for millions of people across the globe and took the sport to a completely different level.

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